re and saintly souls who gathered round her
altars at home, who crowded her monasteries, or listened devoutly to the
teachers of her distinguished schools. In the Litany of Aengus the
Culdee[187] we find hundreds of foreign saints invoked, each grouped
according to their nation. "The oldest tract, or collection of the
pedigrees of the saints of Erinn," says Professor O'Curry, "of which we
have now any recognizable copy remaining, is that which is ascribed to
Aengus Ceile De, commonly called Aengus the Culdee. The genuineness of
this composition is admitted by all writers of modern times, Protestant
and Catholic, by Usher and Ware as well as by Colgan."

Aengus wrote about the year 798. He was descended from the illustrious
chieftains of Dalriada, and completed his education in the Monastery of
Cluain Eidhneach, in the present Queen's county. The remains of a church
he founded at Disert Aengusa, near Ballingarry, in the county of
Limerick, may still be seen.

The Monastery of Tamhlacht (Tallaght), near Dublin, was founded in the
year 769, by St. Maelruain, on a site offered "to God, to Michael the
Archangel, and to Maelruain," by Donnach, the pious and illustrious King
of Leinster. St. Aengus presented himself at this monastery as a poor
man seeking for service, and was employed for some time in charge of the
mill or kiln, the ruins of which have but lately yielded to "the
improving hand of modern progress." Here he remained hidden for many
years, until, by some happy accident, his humility and his learning were
at once discovered.

Aengus composed his "Festology" in the reign of Hugh Oirdnidhe (the
Legislator), who was Monarch of Ireland from the year 793 to the year
817. Hugh commenced his reign by attaching the province of Leinster, and
then marched to the confines of Meath. The Archbishop of Armagh and all
his clergy were commanded to attend this expedition, for such had
hitherto been the custom. The ecclesiastics, however, protested against
the summons, and complained to the king of the injustice and
inconsistency of demanding their presence on such occasions. Hugh
referred the matter to Fothadh, his poet and adviser. The learning and
piety of the bard were well known; and a decision favourable to the
clergy was the result. This decision was given in a short poem of four
quatrains which is preserved in the preface to the "Martyrology" of
Aengus. The following is a literal translation:--

"The Church of the l